A Template for Proof of PTSD

Abstract

The Voyager litigation” has provided the most extensive opportunity thus far for a superior court in Australia to determine how Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder ("PTSD") is to be proved by a plaintiff and how the claim of PTSD can be tested by a defendant In McLean v Commonwealth of Australia', the key question that arose for determination before Studdert J was whether it had been proven on the balance of probabilities that the plaintiff suffered PTSD and, if so, whether the condition had been caused by the shock of his experience at the time of the collision between “The Melbourne” and “The Voyager”. The way in which Studdert J went about the exercise of evaluating the expert evidence adduced before him, and also determining the significance of the plaintiffs failure to report many of his symptoms for some years and to institute litigation, is likely to form a template for future Australian cases on PTSD.